Earthquake has hit Japan

[Icarus]

Sounds like everyone who hangs around here that lives there is okay, which is good news.
Good thing Japan is relatively prepared for things like this, but it makes it no less worrying when it happens. Those knackered nuclear reactors don't make things any easier, either.

[GaijinPunch]

I'm just so glad I wasn't inside a building, or even worse in a skyscraper in Tokyo.

Yeah... the building I was in is less than a year old, but it's only 15 floors, and the footprint is probably about 100 square meters. Not big at all. When it hit, I really questioned if I should bolt for the stairs or not. I still don't know. I've seen videos of people running out of buildings and missing falling walls of brick by mere centimeters. Scary shit. Sorry you had to walk so far, dude.

GP, where did Magic Knight live? Does he live on the east coast that was hit hard?

His city is barely on the map now, unfortunately. I hope his parents don't know where he lives if they've not heard from him yet. The address I have for him is on the water, basically. That's not the exact address. Even though the house is most certainly destroyed, I'll respect his privacy. But, just move imagine about a block from the water at the top of the bay -- that's it.

[Aguraki]

hope things don't get worse and thoughts for all of you that are stuck there.

[Pointman]

Christ, this was terrible news when I saw it hit. I hope things settle down soon for you folks living in Japan.

[Alien Soldier]

His city is barely on the map now, unfortunately. I hope his parents don't know where he lives if they've not heard from him yet. The address I have for him is on the water, basically. That's not the exact address. Even though the house is most certainly destroyed, I'll respect his privacy. But, just move imagine about a block from the water at the top of the bay -- that's it.

Oh man, I hope Magic is OK

[Skykid]

His city is barely on the map now, unfortunately. I hope his parents don't know where he lives if they've not heard from him yet. The address I have for him is on the water, basically. That's not the exact address. Even though the house is most certainly destroyed, I'll respect his privacy. But, just move imagine about a block from the water at the top of the bay -- that's it.

Was concerned for the chap from the start, but not knowing if he's ok is really starting to get worryingly long. According to the news pretty much all of where he lived is completely gone. I'm hoping it's just the PCB collection that's suffered and that MK was out of town working, and the same for his wife.

Has no-one got the guy's number? Doesn't he have it on file with you GP?

Edit: Jesus, the before and after pictures of Minamisanriku are frightening. It's been wiped off the face of the Earth.

[lilmanjs]

I'm glad to see that people on the forum from Japan are checking in. Glad to see that people are ok and stuffs. I haven't heard back from the only Japanese artist I have releasing with my label in the future though. hope he's ok.

[BIL]

have you guys had more recent contact to magicknight? apparently he hasn't been signed on here for more than 3 years.

That's odd - he's posted here much more recently than that. I really appreciated his comments on the ups and downs of PCB owning in this thread last year.

Regardless, I hope he's alright too. Glad to see the other Japan-based members checking in safely. rancor, it was good to see your post come up after reading the first few pages of this thread!

[dcharlie]

has anyone who knows Magic Knights real name tried plugging it in to the Google Person finder?

[ryu]

have you guys had more recent contact to magicknight? apparently he hasn't been signed on here for more than 3 years.

That's odd - he's posted here much more recently than that. I really appreciated his comments on the ups and downs of PCB owning in this thread last year.

Regardless, I hope he's alright too. Glad to see the other Japan-based members checking in safely. rancor, it was good to see your post come up after reading the first few pages of this thread!

whoops. i mixed him up with user "MagicKnight" : /

[Shogun]

Some crazy first hand accounts being posted here. Glad most people seem ok.

[GaijinPunch]

Has no-one got the guy's number? Doesn't he have it on file with you GP?
Edit: Jesus, the before and after pictures of Minamisanriku are frightening. It's been wiped off the face of the Earth.

I forgot a proxy user of mine actually got something from through YJ recently and it's still here. The phone number is on it... but, it's the land line, of course, as luck would have it. Needless to say, that's not working. It's giving me the busy signal instead of some "out of service" message so hopefully that's some type of [good] omen. Seriously, who uses a land line these days?!?! Argh. Frustration.

has anyone who knows Magic Knights real name tried plugging it in to the Google Person finder?

No. Does this work in Japan? I assume NTT won't comment on the status of a line, and if anything is connected to it. The fact that I can't get through isn't too shocking I suppose. I got not Japan hits for his full name on Facebook. Would be nice of Japan had a social networking system that didn't encapsulate all of their internet-related shortcomings (design, ease of use, and people using pictures of their fucking dogs and food for avatars). If anyone knows if he has a Mixi account that might actually be useful.

On the upside, I do recall him saying he worked a full school day, so chances are he was at a school. No reports of large masses of children dying (you'd think that would make the headlines). So... not totally grasping for straws here.

[Annoyboy]

http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=ja Have you tried this one?

[GaijinPunch]

http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=ja Have you tried this one?

I added a page for him. You know what though, one time I called and it rang. Either all the LSD I did as a child is haunting me, or someone said hello. Then, NTT recording says, "the lines are busy, try again later" and it cut me off. WTF?! But seriously -- what are the odds. It was a native English speaker (but didn't sound Irish particularly. But, who knows from one word). Anyway, that's either a good sign or a really sick coincidence. I'm back to the busy signal now though. I'll keep trying.

EDIT: Wife says no way I'd get through, so it was probably a mixed line. Weird odds though.

[Blackbird]

How are the reactors doing? Lots of contradictory information on US news networks.

[NTSC-J]

The US news stations seem to be hoping for a Chernobyl or worse. I've got people contacting me freaking out that I may have already grown a third-eye, meanwhile the news networks over here are saying things are being handled. Yahoo News pissed me off with a headline that read "explosion at nuclear plant, thousands missing", which to me suggests that the explosion was the cause of the thousands missing. Pretty shameless.

I imagine the truth of the situation is somewhere in the middle. Here's hoping that they turn this potential Chernobyl into a mere three-mile island.

[brentsg]

I've got people contacting me freaking out that I may have already grown a third-eye

Could be handy for shmups though..

[GaijinPunch]

I've got people contacting me freaking out that I may have already grown a third-eye

Could be handy for shmups though..

Pretty sure he'd be disqualified from high score threads.

[Demetori]

NTSC-J, I can't agree with you more.. The media is disgusting a lot of the time when it comes to this.. I've yet to hear from one of my friends Naofumi, I don't have his address but I know he lives in Fukushima...

[Evilmaxwar]

Im watching CNN, the media is a bit ambiguous with all the different people giving different points of view but I do not find the overall tone that alarmist though. Anyway i really do not think it could get even near as bad as Chernobyl was.

What really annoys me is all the conspiracists already spreading craps about quake being caused by HAARP or atomic bomb implanted on the sea floor and i dont know what else.

[rancor]

Me and the baby just got back from a walk, and things appear to be returning to normal in my neighborhood. Aside from the gas station (SOLD OUT - NO GASOLINE) everything else seems to be in proper working order. Grocery stores once cleaned out were being re-stocked with stereotypical Japanese efficiency. My closest train station re-opened at the exact moment I wandered up to it at 1pm. Mail was delivered this morning (Jockel, your GB games arrived ), and we're expecting our bottled water to be delivered tomorrow. Barring something tragic happening, I'd say that Tokyo (or at least my neck of the woods) is on track to be back to normal by Tuesday or Wednesday... (fingers crossed)

[dcharlie]

NHK reporting 70% chance of M7 earthquake in next 3 days - 50% chance in the 3 days following that.

#fugeeface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEB2n-czwss

[neorichieb1971]

Me and the baby just got back from a walk, and things appear to be returning to normal in my neighborhood. Aside from the gas station (SOLD OUT - NO GASOLINE) everything else seems to be in proper working order. Grocery stores once cleaned out were being re-stocked with stereotypical Japanese efficiency. My closest train station re-opened at the exact moment I wandered up to it at 1pm. Mail was delivered this morning (Jockel, your GB games arrived ), and we're expecting our bottled water to be delivered tomorrow. Barring something tragic happening, I'd say that Tokyo (or at least my neck of the woods) is on track to be back to normal by Tuesday or Wednesday... (fingers crossed)

In the UK it takes longer to get back to normal after a snow storm.

[GaijinPunch]

NHK reporting 70% chance of M7 earthquake in next 3 days - 50% chance in the 3 days following that.

#fugeeface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEB2n-czwss

yeah, this was disconcerting. At least Plant 1 is saying the cooling is now getting under control.

[greg]

The US news stations seem to be hoping for a Chernobyl or worse. I've got people contacting me freaking out that I may have already grown a third-eye, meanwhile the news networks over here are saying things are being handled. Yahoo News pissed me off with a headline that read "explosion at nuclear plant, thousands missing", which to me suggests that the explosion was the cause of the thousands missing. Pretty shameless.

Yes, the US media is just sick. I don't care if it's Fox or CNN or MSNBC. They sensationalize everything. They were making a big deal about a tsunami hitting the West Coast. All it did was flip some boats over and it carried one dumbass out to sea because he didn't heed the warning. Darwinism, I say.

What makes the hysteria worse about the nuclear power plant is that for the majority of people, the only knowledge they have of how a nuclear power plant works is from watching The Simpsons. My dad worked at a nuclear power plant for 30 years, often doing construction work inside the actual containment area. The only cancers he has are skin cancers from being out in the sun for too long with his fair German skin. People don't realize that they get more exposure to radiation living next to a hospital than a nuclear power plant.

[GaijinPunch]

What makes the hysteria worse about the nuclear power plant is that for the majority of people, the only knowledge they have of how a nuclear power plant works is from watching The Simpsons. .

I've been thinking of instances of the "pulling a Homer" episode in my head for the last 48 hours.

[moozooh]

As expected, the Fukushima failure is just a minor leakage, nothing too serious. The officials are rating it as INES 4, which is a grade lower than the TMI accident. The damaged reactors will most definitely go out of business forever, though.

What is more positively surprising, however, is the fact that the reported death toll still hasn't climbed over a thousand. Damn, Japan, you're good. The earthquake's magnitude was adjusted to 9.0, btw.

Also, more on topic of dark humor: devastated Japanese otaku are furious.

[GaijinPunch]

What is more positively surprising, however, is the fact that the reported death toll still hasn't climbed over a thousand. Damn, Japan, you're good. The earthquake's magnitude was adjusted to 9.0, btw.

They will probably mark off about 10,000 as "presumed dead" in the next few days. Apparently an entire town (mainly made up of elderly people) vanished.

[moozooh]

Well, I do hope most of those made it out alive.

Btw, found this nice set of schemes explaining the nature of Fukushima disaster, straight to the point:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sp ... -activity/

[austere]

Like that page said since Cesium-137 has been detected, a partial meltdown has definitely happened. It's very difficult to control a run-away reaction and once it's self-sustaining, there's nothing you can do about it. That's why they're trying everything they can to prevent a complete meltdown (when the core reaches ~2800 deg C), even permanently destroying the plants (already the case for Unit 1/Unit 3). It won't be as bad as Chernobyl, if that's any consolation, as long as the geological study was done properly...

Here's an illustration of how these plants looks like, by the way. Quite an ancient design.

In the case of Fujishima Daiichi Unit 1, the top has blown off exposing the metal you see in some photographs. A lot of the engineers and scientists on that site are going to become really ill or die so people should be thankful for their sacrifice...